Village Liaison Keeps Senior Citizens Happy

Paula Sabatino wondered what she was getting into when she took the job as senior citizens coordinator for Glendale Heights about a decade ago.

The year she was hired by the village, the town's older residents were "marching on city hall," she says, because of a cutback in services.

They were very vocal about their displeasure, she says. "I thought, `Oh, my God. You want me to handle these people?' "

Sabatino discovered, however, that the older residents were, in fact, not so hard to please. "You listen, and then whatever they want, you do it," she says. "You don't fight with them."

"I love this job," says Sabatino, 44. "I wouldn't have lasted 10 years if I didn't love it and love them."

Each Wednesday at 9 a.m., senior citizens begin trickling into the Glendale Heights Sports Hub, 250 Civic Center, for several hours of socializing, exercising, eating and recreation. They bring cakes and cookies, news of what's happened in their lives, and a willingness to listen to each other's problems.

"We've got the nicest people in the world here," says Mildred Larson, 83, who has been attending the program for 20 years. "I've never had such wonderful friends, and I think we all feel that way. We have a great time here."

Most weeks, 50 to 60 residents attend the program, which is held in a large recreation room. At 10 a.m., more than a dozen meet on one side of the room for an exercise class.

Standing in a circle in gym shoes and street clothes, they stretch and do light cardiovascular work, led by an instructor who plays a tape of music from an earlier time.

While the group exercises, those on the other side of the room are preparing for games. Four long tables are for bingo players (the most popular of the games), and other tables are being filled for pinochle and other card games.

Some of the crowd, who are mostly women, will leave about lunch time. Some have brought bag lunches to eat at the center, and others go out to lunch together.

They seem to share an enthusiasm for the program.

"Paula does a good job of organizing things," says Rosemary Gryncewicz, 77. "She coordinates trips for us, books the shows-things like that-and everyone seems to be pleased."

But Sabatino's part-time job involves more than the Wednesday program. She also schedules day trips, helps plan special parties around holidays, and dispatches the senior bus. The bus picks up seniors at their homes and takes them places, including doctors' offices and shopping areas.

"People take good advantage of it," Sabatino says. "It makes them feel independent. Even if they're living with children who could drive them, they don't like to always ask. This lets them get out more on their own."

Sabatino also organizes about one day trip a month to places such as theaters, racetracks and museums. Joan Tarnowski, a code-enforcement officer in the Glendale Heights Building Department, is one of several village employees who have gone on the trips.

Tarnowski says the joke around Village Hall is that people can't wait to grow older so they can enjoy the programs Sabatino organizes.

"These seniors get around to more things-plays and things-than people my age do," says Tarnowski, 50. "When Paula took over the seniors program, I couldn't believe all the things she started them doing-all the trips for example.

"Paula is a good organizer, and she listens to their input. She doesn't do what she wants; she listens and does what they want.

"She's also a very caring person. When she finds out one of them is sick, she sends cards or flowers."

Sabatino grew up in Chicago and graduated from Wells High School on the West Side. She married after graduating, and she and her husband, Richie, have two grown sons.

Sabatino had been involved in her sons' sports teams, helping organize baseball and hockey programs. The mayor at the time, who was a friend, thought she had the right personality to handle the senior program, Sabatino says.

News of the program spreads mostly by word of mouth, and it's not unusual for Sabatino to get calls from an anxious son or daughter, worried about elderly parents.

"They'll tell me, `You've got to help me. I have to get them out.' Then they bring them one time and that's usually all it takes," Sabatino says. "They keep coming back. They find people here who will listen to them and can sympathize with their problems."

Dorothy Laird, 77, started coming to the Wednesday program several months ago after her husband died. "I felt I had to get out and do something, and they welcomed me at this table. I've been coming here and sitting here ever since," she says. "It's been great. I didn't know anyone, and they made me feel right at home."